RP: NSS Acadia [Mission 1] A Side: "High and Dry over Golding"

To himself, without the radio on, Henry realised that he'd had just one more grenade handy. It'd be great in conjunction with the smokescreen Viktor set up. He put the HPAR down on the ground and took out the grenade. He pulled the pin, and set it to 'Detonate on Impact.'

Henry reactivated his radio and mumbled, "Fire - in the hole," As he lobbed it at where the enemy Hostile had fallen with his good arm. He then let loose a barrage of ARROWs in a fan pattern into the smokescreen with a sick grin.

He scrambled behind cover and picked up his HPAR in the process.

Talbain gave the mental order to fire 60 BOLT missiles from both of his racks as he boosted backwards into the smoke screen and down the corridor towards Trey and Harrison. He tried to keep his massive armor to the right side of the hall and as low as possible which really didn't do much considering the Aggressor's build.

The resulting explosions from the collusion of the micro-missile clouds were like the New Year fireworks on Nepleslia. Many small explosions interlaced with a few medium ones and at one point a giant explosion that shook the very ground of the station, even the smoke was not visible, only bright orange flashes. A large number of enemy micromissiles were not even destroyed by the marine's counter-missiles, but rather secondary explosions from their own missiles caused by the counter-micromissiles. A few ARROWS nearly hit Talbain as he backed into the corner, but those and a few others that survived the cataclysm flew onward ignoring the exit where the marines were.

Sensors could detect the creation of a Grav Field, as the enemy Aggressor activated it's secondary propulsion systems to move its large bulk down the ruined corridor. Another Grav field indicated the Crooked Demon was following close by.

Sensors also indicated a loud 'PING!' from a source a few kilometers away off the station surface followed by faint but gradually increasing energy signatures, this was nearly overpowered by a high energy signature coming from the storage room, it seems like the Master Chief was almost ready.

As Viktor passed Trey he veered right and posted up in the corridor across the way from Fian's temporary dressing room. He wasn't sniper-trained, but Viktor wasn't a a spray-and-pray Marine either; he liked to consider himself versatile: capable of doing all, but never having spent the time to master any. He crouched at the corner, half his M2 hidden by the wall, and the other half protruding so he could line up a shot on any PAs coming through the charged particle smokescreen. "We need to spread out or that Crooked Demon is going to rip all of us a new orifice or two."

As Talbain moved down the hall he called out "Anselm I've got a plan. Grab the WATER2 I punched down and get into the side hall near the Chief. When they clear the smoke we light them up on three."
As he came up to the side halls he dropped behind the corner opposite of the storage room and readied all his weapon systems and monoeyes to activate.
"Shield wall forming." was the only indication of the plan he called out for the rest of the squad.

"Oop!" Henry gasped to himself as he jumped from cover, firing a shot or two from the HPAR as covering fire as he proceeded behind the forming Shield-Wall.

"Good - plan." Henry radioed Talbain as he checked the condition of his suit. Aside from his arm, everything was in okay condition. He still had a few ARROWS left to dispense, but they wouldn't be a lot. He had no more grenades, and he was pretty sure his HPAR was soon to run out of ammo.

Anselm grinned "At once, mine comrade!" He tried using his legs and almost fell on his face before he remembered to use the gravity drive, he hefted the battered and inoperative Water2 off the floor, intentionally bashing its head in against the corner he proceded to take up position against, using the jimmy-piloted PA as a 'human' shield. As akward as it was to move a multi-ton PA, it was even more awkward to hold it against one's suit to block enemy fire. Since the PA was limp and Anselm was holding it to himself by its waist, almost sensually so, it was also emotionally awkward for the rest of the team to see him use the Water2 as a shield, especially since it was wearing a skirt.

The marine used the drooping torso of the Water2 to prop his HPAR on its shoulder and spread his legs so he could fire both missile pods once the enemy rounded the corner. Anselm planned to fire the HPAR in burst mode, squeezing off as many shots as possible, as well as launching a continous stream of BOLT missiles down the hallway, as only 53 were left in each pod it would take little more than six seconds to unleash his full assault and then pull out of the returning fire.

It was a few antagonizing moments before the sparkling smoke in the junction was blown away from the wind of the enemy Power Armors stopping just before the corner. The Aggressor first activated its many Monoeyes, getting a scan every member of the group. Five seconds later the lineup shuffled. Dark Demon closest to the corner followed by Crooked Demon, Aggressor and finally Hostile. All four activated their boosters simultaneously soon after.

First to round the corner, the Dark Demon opened up all its Micro Missile panels and fired up its chaingun for an Alpha Strike, it swung its thrusters around to move deeper into the corridor. Close behind, but only half visible was the Crooked Demon, its Aether Cannons were warmed up and glowing red, ready to fire as soon as it bought them to bear.

Trey was ready, ignoring the small fry for the bigger threat, He aimed above the DD and at the CD, throwing a continuous stream of Positrons from his LBR at the crooked demon's shields, while simultaneously littering the corridor with as many micromissiles as his suit would launch. It was an intimidating charge the enemy had thrown up, but the Sniper was sure that they had the power, skill, and luck to drive it back if not destroy it.

Anselm opened up with both his leg pods, exhausting the the launchers of the remaining 109 BOLTs in under 5.7 seconds with locks on all four enemy suits, and pumped out several volleys of burst-fire from his HPAR, only his right shoulder monoeye was active and focusing on the Crooked Demon's head and aether cannons, trying to at least disable some sensors or a barrel. He left the Aggressor, Hostile, and Dark Demon to his compartriots and trusting his safety to the ruined Water2 propped upon his leg and his shields.

"W'hell, looks like it's time I got a piece of the action!" Harrison said to himself, looking over the cluster of enemy units in the junction before looking over the PA-armored soldiers on his side.

"Alright guys, I'm getting a firing solution on that Crooked Demon! See if you can keep it occupied; I'll be ready in a second!" Harrison said, lowering his PAL into position and running through the minor calculations in his head before firing a PAL round at the Crooked.

Viktor couldn't help but be surprised. either the Jimmies were using that Dark Demon as a suicide shield or they were expecting focus on the Crooked Demon which would allow the smaller unit to get in a load of shots. Either way, it was a smart call and he knew it. Any second now, Harrison would need to fire that PAL if he expected to not kill their team in the process. Another man would be nice, too. "Chief, we could really use another PA on the field right about now!" As he spoke, he was lining up his shot on the Aggressor. He knew that everyone would be firing on that Crooked Demon (hell, he had the strongest of urges to do the same thing; he simply put his trust in his team to take care of those death cannons). And Although he feared that everyone would aim for the CD and ignore the DD, he was sure that the greater firepower of the friendly Aggressor and Hostile units would suffice in taking him out. His shot ready, he fired at the Aggressor. Things were about to get ugly.

Talbain gritted his teeth knowing that the CD was going to get it's shot off and he was the most likely target. He was sure it wouldn't have time for a second shot though. And hopefully the sheer amount of fire saturation the enemy PAs where about to receive would keep friendly damage to a minimum.
Activating his shoulder monoeyes he set his turrets to auto engage, started to unload on the DD with his AMP, and started launching 60 BOLTs from both of his weapon cases.

The new battleground was thoroughly smoked again from the wide variety of micro missiles being thrown about. Some of the missiles wandered into the crossfire between both groups and were destroyed, some were deliberately targeted by PLRs on both sides, but most exploded from meeting each other midway. The consistent explosions and smoke obscured the view on both sides, but it didn't matter because both Aggressors were feeding precise Monoeye data back to their teammates.

The disproportionate amount of missiles launched by the marines proved to be towards their advantage, a good number of BOLTs made it through the other side still locked onto their targets. The Dark Demon in an act of bravery beyond the call of duty (or just plain programming), decided to boost into the swarm with arms outstretched, eating a considerable amount of antimatter in addition to the plasma from Talbain's shots. The suit was completely annihilated, the brief view of the suit's insides as it was torn apart showed no bloody gibs, it was safe to assume that it was tele-operated.

The Crooked Demon absorbed the remaining missiles with its arms in the 'guard' position. Its twin shield bubbles rippled, but held. In an act that showed a degree of skill and experience, the CD steadily advanced towards the marines step by step under persistent HPAR fire from Anselm. Finally before Trey's positron snake reduced its shields to near nothing, it bought its cannons to forward and let off a glorious Aether blast. The beams catching Harrison's orange ball in mid-air closer to the Demon's side, in the resulting explosion it shied away from the intense heat of the blast, losing the shield bubbles but not its composure.

Oddly, only a few laser beams connected with the shield wall and no missiles at all. It was the side effect of the overwhelming micro missiles launched. This was followed by two other beams... Two REALLY HUGE BEAMS that removed half of Talbain's shields almost drilled Anselm's meat(sic)shield to the core. Both newcomers were knocked back considerably, the Albino more so.

The enemy Aggressor finally deciding to show its face was met with good and prepared hits from Viktor straight to the head unit. Fortunately between this encounter and the last one, it had fully regenerated its shields, only taking considerable shield damage from the greenhorn's 'welcome'. It tried to shove the de-shielded Crooked Demon into the cover of the corner and then wasted no time in launching its remaining (but still overwhelming!) ARROWS down the corridor, raising its AOP but not pulling the trigger just yet.

The tip of the hostile Hostile's HPAR could be seen just sticking out of the other corner.

Harrison, ignoring the glancing blow that struck his first PAL shot and ignited it prematurely, grunted as he activated his Monoeyes and searched the smoke cloud for another target, eventually spotting the Crooked Demon again.

"Everyone get ready!" Harrison said over the radio as he aimed at the Crooked again and fired another blue-orange PAL round at the large, gnarly power armor.

As expected, everyone's focus was indeed on the CD. He'd made the right choice, which was a minute confidence booster; no time to study himself, though, he needed to take the next shot at the Aggressor. With the SAVTECH locked, and a good alignment down the barrel, he fired his second blast.

Trey muttered a few curses to himself as his target had not been destroyed but instead merely inconvenienced and knocked back into cover. Biting his lip, the Marine leaned back on his UFC tubes for support and Wielded his LBR one-handed, pointing his Arrestor guard down the hallway. He fired a shot from the rifle, and then fired the Guard, both at the enemy aggressor. He only hoped the others launched enough shit down the hallway that by the time the two electrified prongs made their way to the armor, it's shields would be gone. Trey didn't worry too much about missing. the machine's enormous bulk added to the confines of the hallway and the targeting capability of the suit made it an easy shot from here.

Anselm discarded his meat shield, now a mess of metal and gore, and propped himself up against the wall. The marine had little cover and was sprawled against the deck, the Aether Cannon had flash-fused the armor plates around his left knee, most of the heat had bled off with the evaporating armor so there probably weren't any burns. Seeing the CD get shoved around the corner he focused his 'Moneyshot' fire at the Aggressor, counting on Vicktor's fire would knock off its shields, aiming for the AOP barrel, hoping it would disable the gun before it could fire.

"Why - won't - you - DIE!?" Henry was now severely miffed off at the Agressor, the Crooked Demon and the Hostile as he voiced these angry thoughts on the loudspeaker. He had the feeling that death was just around the corner anyway, "Fucking persistent, you all are!"

He launched what he had left of his ARROWs, and unloaded the remaining contents of the HPAR, and even began firing the PLA at them. Henry had gone berserk, with little regard for safety as he stayed outside of cover, firing everything he had available to him.

His uneventful life was beginning to flash before his eyes. He wondered where he put that book.

Talbain moved his AMP aiming reticule over the opposing Aggressor and continued to lay on the fire with all his systems, even his PCTs. He was going to have to rely on the squad and the BOLTs he was launching to intercept the ARROW swarm heading down the hall. He also cut down on the amount of launches from one of his cases to 30 in an effort to conserve something for the rest of the mission.
He didn't bother to try to make out what Henry had shouted over the sound of everyone's weapon fire. There's be plenty of time for that assuming they all lived.
One last thought crossed his mind and he activated the monoeyes on his PAs backpack and sent them searching for the DD that Chief Vel Steyr had shot down earlier. Specifically looking to see if it was carrying a Panzerfaust when it was gunned down.